In 2007, Mum's symptoms of dementia first became very noticeable in the form of unusual behaviour such as barricading doors, tying up gates with handkerchiefs, calling the police all the time to imagined intruders and obsessing over her two cats. But even years before that, she'd made bad judgments with money, selling her house to a conwoman for $100,000 less than it was worth and wasting money on employing tradesmen to carry out unnecessary work. She only became seriously forgetful in 2010.

Thursday, October 30, 2014

The food's not what it pretends to be

Sometimes Mum says funny things. I took her to McDonalds, which she used to love, to try and get her to eat something. She had a lot of trouble with her cheeseburger. I asked why she wasn't eating it.

"The food's not what it pretends to be on the packaging," she said. So true.

She doesn't seem to be enjoying anything any more. I still take her to my place for the day. She's got a lot more quiet and doesn't pace around as much at sundowning time.

I think she's starting to have trouble swallowing. She chews for a very long time, then doesn't want to swallow the food.

She finds it easy to eat ice cream and drinks.

She is also getting very difficult to understand at times. Her speech is becoming garbled. She says sentences that make no sense at all.

I asked her to write on a birthday card the other day and she just put a few lines and scribbles on it. A couple of letters were decipherable.

She usually knows who I am, but probably no-one else at this stage. I am guessing she has reached Stage 7 Alzheimers.

Very severe cognitive decline(Severe or late-stage Alzheimer's disease)In
the final stage, individuals lose the ability to
respond to their environment, to carry on a conversation and,
eventually, to control movement. They may still say words or phrases.

At this stage, individuals need help with much of their daily
personal care, including eating or using the toilet. They may also lose
the ability to smile, to sit without support and to hold their heads up.
Reflexes become abnormal. Muscles grow rigid. Swallowing impaired.

1 comment:

My mother (84yo) is becoming frailer each time I see her. She says the food is not always nice at the aged care facility she is in. I have seen a Sunday roast lamb dished up and it looks delicious!It is indeed a scary disease...